World News

(JTA) — A German-born sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined roughly $2,200 and given a “severe reprimand” after joking about the Holocaust while conducting an infantry training course. But the 38-year-old officer was not demoted, even though a military tribunal considered handing down that punishment. The sergeant, identified as K.E. Bluemke, pleaded guilty last…

(JTA) — The chief rabbi of Poland sent an angry letter to the mayor of Kazimierz Dolny, condemning the eastern Polish town for throwing a festive children’s bubble party on the site of a former Jewish cemetery where the dead are still buried. The Kazimierz Dolny authorities filled the former cemetery with bubbles for Children’s…

(New York Jewish Week) — When William Shakespeare wrote “The Merchant of Venice” 400 years ago, he had almost certainly never met a Jewish person. In fact, in 1596 or so, when he created the infamous character of Shylock — a greedy moneylender who thirsts for a literal “pound of flesh” from his Christian antagonist,…

(JTA) — The city of Vienna will tilt the statue of a former mayor known for being antisemitic 3.5 degrees to the right in order to shift the viewer’s “perspective on it,” a move that some Jewish leaders are calling an inadequate way to deal with a dark chapter of the city’s history. The city’s…

(JTA) — My 95-year-old mother knows a thing or two about trauma. Not only because she is a survivor of Auschwitz but also because she is a psychologist. “What worries me,” my mother says, “is that we Jews will succumb to our past trauma rather than rise above it.” I share my mother’s concern. Jewish Americans…

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Until the Jan. 6 insurrection, Mike Pence made sure to stay on the same page as Donald Trump — except, sometimes, when it came to the Jews.  Both men delighted the pro-Israel establishment — Trump by fulfilling a long wishlist of Israel’s right-wing government, Pence by proving himself as a stalwart Christian…

(JTA) — Leading up to its New York City conference, the Jerusalem Post tried to avoid the anti-government protests that had bedeviled other recent gatherings where Israeli government officials had spoken. And until 3 p.m., it appeared the Israeli newspaper’s efforts had succeeded. Protest organizers told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the conference had canceled…

(JTA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke by phone with Elon Musk on Sunday, calling the businessman and Twitter CEO “a person whose intelligence and contribution to humanity I greatly appreciate.” The tech mogul, currently the world’s richest individual despite notching steep losses at Twitter, has drawn controversy for his tweets about…

(JTA) — A massive mural of a Jewish mother lighting Shabbat candles has just gone up in a Jewish neighborhood of Los Angeles, the first in a series of anti-hate murals planned across the city. Painted by the Iranian-Jewish artist Cloe Hakakian, “The Common Thread” was painted on the exterior of an event venue in…

(New York Jewish Week) — Following the successful stagings of “Leopoldstadt” and “Parade,” another play dealing with antisemitism is headed to Broadway. “A Prayer for the French Republic,” about a Jewish family confronting rising antisemitism in France, will open at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in early 2024, with previews beginning Dec. 19. Written by Joshua Harmon…